People wearing masks walk in a street in Ankara, Turkey on June 18, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)

The total number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has increased to 454,359 with the global confirmed cases reaching 8,509,393 as of 7 pm BJT on Friday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Current status (data as of 7 pm BJT, June 19):

No evidence could be found that the novel coronavirus spreads through ingesting food, including seafood, a Chinese epidemiologist said on Friday in response to public concern about the safety of fresh produce.

Ten US states saw a record number of new Covid-19 cases this week, and Florida could be the next epicenter of the national health crisis after reporting 3,207 additional coronavirus cases on Thursday -- the largest single-day count in the state since the pandemic, according to data.

Russia added 7,972 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 569,063, the country's coronavirus response center said in a statement Friday.

Brazil has seen over 1,000 daily deaths from COVID-19 for three days in a row, the health ministry said Thursday.

The coronavirus was already present in two large cities in northern Italy in December, over two months before the first case was detected, a national health institute study of waste water has found.

Iran's confirmed novel coronavirus cases rose to 200,262 on Friday after an overnight registration of 2,615 new infections, according to official IRNA news agency.